Link Centre Dictionary

spell

UK/spɛl/ US/ˈspɛl/ common informal slang uk us
noun (4) verb (4)

noun

1.

a psychological state induced by (or as if induced by) a magical incantation

Synonyms
2.

a time for working (after which you will be relieved by someone else)

  • “it”
  • “;”
Synonyms
3.

a period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition

  • “he was here for a little while”
  • “I need to rest for a piece”
  • “a spell of good weather”
  • “a patch of bad weather”
Synonyms
4.

a verbal formula believed to have magical force

  • “he whispered a spell as he moved his hands”
  • “inscribed around its base is a charm in Balinese”
Synonyms

verb

1.

recite the letters of or give the spelling of

  • “How do you spell this word?”
2.

indicate or signify

  • “I”
Synonyms
3.

write or name the letters that comprise the conventionally accepted form of (a word or part of a word)

  • “He spelled the word wrong in this letter”
Synonyms
4.

place under a spell

Antonyms

Origin

From Middle English spell, spel, from Old English spell (“news, story”), from Proto-Germanic *spellą (“speech, account, tale”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- (“to tell”) or from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to speak, to sound”) with the s-mobile prefix. Cognate with dialectal German Spill, Icelandic spjall (“discussion, talk”), spjalla (“to discuss, to talk”), guðspjall (“gospel”) and Albanian fjalë (“word”).

Phrases

  • bind spell
  • binding spell
  • breathing spell
  • cold spell
  • dry spell
  • hot spell
  • how do you spell this word
  • it doesn't matter what they say about you as long as they spell your name right
  • magic spell
  • money spell
  • northern spell
  • set a spell

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.